Kosovo Opposition Urge Campaign Against PTK Sale

The Vetevendosje Movement on Monday urged people to mobilize against the government’s planned sale of 75 per cent of its shares in the Post-Telecom company, PTKKosovo’s opposition Self-Determination movement has urged people to mobilize against the planned sale of the Post and Telecom company and the Trepca mines.

Vetevendosje says that the privatization of the two state-owned firms, planned for this September, is designed only to fill the pockets of the government officials, instead of generating new jobs and welfare for citizens.“If citizens mobilize and if unions, the opposition, civil society and the media join forces, then… we can stop the robbery that is being hidden behind the name of privatization,” Dardan Sejdiu, from the movement, said in Pristina.

The government is planning to sell 75 per cent of the shares it holds in the Post and Telecommunications of Kosovo, four years after it made the announcement public.

Five companies have prequalified for the race: Albright Capital Management LLC, in cooperation with Portugal Telecom; Columbia Capital in consortium with ACP Axos Capital Gmbh, which cooperate with British Telecom – Poland; M1 International Limited; Turkcell and; Twelve Hornbeams in consortium with Avicenna Capital LLC, which cooperate with Sofrecom (part of France Telecom).

On Saturday, activists up hundreds of posters in the capital Pristina, allegedly issued by the Kosovo Police, called on officers to arrest Prime Minister Hashim Thaci, his deputy Mimoza Kusari-Lila and the Minister of Economical Development, Besim Beqaj.

Police later arrested three suspects, believed to be activists of the Self-Determination Movement, for falsifying “the arrest warrant” since the affiche had the logo of the Kosovo Police.

On Sunday, media reported that senior ministers, including the Prime Minister, received hundreds of SMS messages calling them not to privatize the Post-Telecom firm.

The messages read that the activists of Self-Determination will use all means to stop the privatization of state assets by going out on the streets “together with our families”.

The vice-president of Vetevendosje, Visar Ymeri, on Monday said that instead of privatizing the Post-Telecom, ministers should start selling their own private property.